Known medical vials containing medicaments and serums for injection include a pierceable seal which extends across the open top of the vial. The seal is generally held in position by a metallic shell which is crimped to the neck of the vial and covers the open end. The metallic shell has a break away section located over the target area of the seal. In order to provide an indicator for product tampering as well as a gripping surface for removing the breakaway section of the metallic shell, a plastic cap is attached to the metallic shell, and covers the target area. The plastic cap is removed along with a breakaway section of the aluminum collar or shell to expose the target area.
However, for vials which contain multiple doses of a medicament or serum, such as insulin or heparin, it would be desirable to re-cover the exposed target area of the seal between use, in order to minimize exposure of the target area to dust, debris or other contaminants, while the vial is being stored.
One proposed solution to this problem is an all plastic vial cap having a reclosable cover hingedly attached to the cap which is press fit onto the neck of a vial to hold a sealing disk in position. The reclosable cover can be used to protect the target area of the sealing disk. However, this cap requires extremely close tolerances between the neck of the bottle and the inside of the cap, which are difficult to maintain with glass vials without expensive tooling, which increases the manufacturing cost. If the close tolerances are not maintained, the vial caps can leak. This can result in contamination of the medicament or serum located in the vial, as well as toxicity to non-patients who handle the vial which has the leaked medicament or serum on its outer surface.
In another known container, a closure is provided with a flanged aluminum cap which holds the sealing element over the mouth of the bottle. The cap includes a central tear-out section. A cover is attached to the cap, with the front part of the cover being attached to the tear-out section of the cap by a projection which extends in a form-locked manner through a mating opening in the tear-out section. The rear part of the cover is affixed to a second part of the cap through a projection which extends in a form-locked manner through a second opening in the cap. The front part of the cover hinges about an articulation between the front and rear parts, and can be fastened to the rear part with a snap fastener element. However, after being opened, the cover can only be reclosed in a provisional manner by reclosing the front part with the attached tear-out section. Further tear-out lines are provided, which extend around the rear part of the cover such that the cover can be pulled by a user to tear through the edge of the aluminum cap to remove the entire closure from the bottle. However, if the vial is to be reused, this closure does not provide a secure means for reclosing the cover, and once the initial tear-out section is removed, the torn-out section is exposed on the cover each time the cover is opened.
The present invention is designed to provide a reclosable vial which provides sealing integrity not offered by the known all-plastic vial closures having reclosable covers.